


The Will of the Force

by DontDrinkAndBike, tehninjaKat



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Actual Balance, Ben Solo Deserved Better, Dark Rey (Star Wars), F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Dyad (Star Wars), Movie: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Redeemed Ben Solo, Soulmates, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, The Force Ships It, The Rise of Skywalker as it should have been, fuck you JJ they both deserved better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22109446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontDrinkAndBike/pseuds/DontDrinkAndBike, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehninjaKat/pseuds/tehninjaKat
Summary: Working title: “TRoS as it should have been.”  A full re-write of The Rise of Skywalker, from start to finish, reworked with both our own ideas as well as rumors of original script ideas.  The very general premise will be the same, however there will be MANY changes to the story.  Please read if you, like us, thought TRoS was an utter dissapointment of a movie that did everyone dirty, but especially Reylo.  Hopefully, this will begin to make things right.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 21
Kudos: 65





	1. The Puppet Master

**Author's Note:**

> Well, the fic summary above is pretty self-explanatory. This is a collaboration between myself and my good friend Kat, because we were both so dissatisfied with how everything went and when we started talking about everything, we thought, "Hey, you know what, we can do this so much better." So here we are... strap yourselves in, it's gonna be a long ride.  
> I asked Kat if she had anything to add, and she only had one sentence for me that I think about sums it all up: _This is a work made out of equal parts love and spite_.  
> Enjoy!

I

The Puppet Master

The turbulent crimson landscape of Mustafar looms in the front viewport of Kylo Ren’s TIE Whisperer. Behind him, the _Steadfast_ idles in space, casting its menacing shadow over the planet. 

Two other ships trail the Whisperer down towards the surface. The first is a First Order Upsilon-class shuttle, carrying General Hux and a battalion of stormtroopers under his command. Alongside the shuttle flies the _Night Buzzard_ , a modified Oubliette transport and the flagship of the Knights of Ren.

If it had been up to Kylo, he and his Knights would have undertaken this mission alone. But Hux and Pryde had insisted on one of them accompanying him with a squadron of troops. It wasn’t necessary, and it irked Kylo to have to agree to their wishes, but he didn’t have a choice.

Ever since Pryde arrived out of the woodwork - a former Allegiant General, a veteran of the Imperial Navy’s High Command - Kylo’s been challenged at every turn by the combination of him and Hux. He knows he has to pick his battles, and this one just wasn’t worth fighting.

That being said, he knows he needs to continue to keep a sharp eye on those two. Pryde, especially. Even from the beginning, when he first joined them, the General’s mind had felt… unusual. The Dark Side surrounded him like a second skin, a shadow so deep that it put even Kylo on edge.

He thinks he knows why, now. The transmission had all but confirmed it.

The Whisperer shudders as it pierces the upper atmosphere. Kylo keeps it steady and on course, the coordinates of his target already locked into the navigational system. Before long, his ship breaks through the ashy clouds and the planet’s surface comes into sight.

As does his destination.

Several thousand feet away, the ruin of Darth Vader’s castle rises up from the barren flats like the enormous husk of a burnt and blackened tree, a blight on the land. The cult colonists mentioned in the First Order’s records swarm around the castle, panicking at the sight of the three approaching spacecraft.

Kylo’s comms crackle to life with Hux’s voice. “The Alazmec that have inhabited the ruins are a primitive people,” he reports, the sneer in his tone clear even through the distortion of the radio. “They will try to stop you, but they pose no threat to us.”

Kylo grits his teeth. “To _any_ of us,” he says. “Something I thought I made clear when I said that my Knights and I would handle this mission… _alone_.”

“Your safety is of the utmost importance, Supreme Leader,” Hux responds with disdain. Kylo knows he doesn’t mean a word of it, but he’s not sure yet what game he’s playing. “The troopers will clear the way through the colonists so that you and the Knights may search the castle.”

“No. We will clear the path, and your troops will provide backup as needed.” Kylo cuts off the connection before Hux can argue.

Deftly, he sets the Whisperer down on the plains and climbs out from the cockpit. He doesn’t wait for Hux or the Knights, instead igniting his lightsaber and striding purposefully towards the castle.

The cultists are irritating, but not his focus. Any that attack him, he cuts down without mercy, but he largely ignores the rest as they mill about in chaos. From the corner of his eye, he spots the Knights disembarking from the _Buzzard_ and drawing their assorted vibro-weapons. He doesn’t bother chasing down any of the colonists that run from him, knowing the Knights and Hux’s troops will slaughter them all anyway.

Hux was right about one thing: the Alazmec _are_ primitive. They wear rags for clothes, and most of them don’t even have a blaster. They mostly wield simple clubs - a useless weapon against a lightsaber. Kylo cuts them down with efficiency, drawing ever closer to his goal. The Knights catch up to him quickly and together, they force a path through the remaining cultists and make their way to the castle’s entrance.

In front of them, the plains abruptly drop off into a sharp cliff. Far below, a river of molten lava carves a canyon through the terrain. A black stone bridge spans the gap, the only route to the castle’s front door. It’s damaged; large chunks have broken off and fallen to the river below, but it still looks structurally sound enough to at least support a person’s weight.

Kylo doesn’t want to chance anything, though, and this offers him a convenient excuse to get what he originally wanted. “Wait for me here,” he orders the Knights. “I go in alone. Secure the area. If anyone tries to follow me in, kill them.”

“Yes, Master.”

Carefully, he steps one foot onto the stone, testing its sturdiness. The bridge holds. He pushes with more weight. He can feel the give, but still, the bridge stays intact.

“Good enough,” Kylo mutters, and steps fully out onto the bridge.

He makes it across without incident. In front of him, the ten-foot-tall gates to Vader’s castle lay twisted and broken, leaving the entry open. With little ceremony, he steps inside.

It’s dark. The only light in the structure is what filters in through the gap in the doors. But more than that, it’s Dark.

Kylo knows the cultists settled here because of the residual power that still lingered in and around it. But he doubts even they can feel it as strongly as he can. They never knew the truth.

He’s heard stories, whispers really, of the power contained here. The castle was supposedly built atop the entrance to an ancient Sith cave, designed to harness and channel the power of the Dark Side of the Force. He’s hardly stepped fully into the castle, but already he can feel the Dark Side permeating the entire ruin. It’s almost a tangible presence, swirling around him, whispering in the dark.

He begins striding quickly through the dilapidated corridors. As he progresses further and further into the castle, there is no light but the scarlet glow of his saber, but it’s all he needs. Something is reaching for him, calling out to him from the heart of the darkness, and he knows it is the relic he came for.

He heeds the call eagerly.

It leads him to a large circular room several levels down. At the center, the crest of the Galactic Empire is inlaid into the obsidian floor. Across the chamber from him is a single door.

Kylo stares at it with narrowed eyes. The holocron is behind it. He can feel it.

He steps closer. His lightsaber illuminates more of the room with a bloody haze the closer he gets to the center. He glances around at the walls. They are covered with intricate carvings of Sith runes.

He tightens his grip on his saber. He may follow the Dark Side, but he is not a true Sith. This place is beyond simple darkness - far beyond - and it makes him immeasurably uneasy.

As Kylo crosses over the Empire’s seal, he freezes and looks up. A low creaking noise fills the chamber.

The door stutters open.

Kylo decides he’s being ridiculous hesitating like this. He knows what Snoke would say about fear, but he refuses to entertain that thought any further. He takes a breath and marches forward into the next room.

It’s square-shaped and small, much smaller than the last - barely wide enough for him to stretch his arms out fully on both sides. In the center is a rectangular obsidian plinth, waist-high, emblazoned with more Sith carvings.

The whispering is growing louder now. If he focuses, he can almost make out faint words hissing out of the shadows.

_Welcome, Heir of Darkness._

He swallows back his apprehension, scolding himself again, and approaches the plinth. There’s a thin seam that traces the outline of a square in the middle, maybe four or five inches long on each side. 

Kylo reaches out and brushes his hand over the square.

The edges of the shape glow red at his touch. The plinth trembles. Slowly, the square begins to rise part of the way up, revealing the upside-down pyramidal groove set into the top of the plinth that houses the holocron. Kylo extinguishes his saber, re-clips it to his belt, and waits.

Once it stops moving and the mechanism has settled, he grasps the base of the holocron and pulls it the rest of the way out. He brushes dust off of the surface and holds it upright in front of him, examining it carefully. 

A real, surviving Sith holocron. He almost can’t believe the rumors were true. He’d been half-expecting this entire journey to be a galactic waste of time, but for once he is glad to be proven wrong. 

The holocron is shaped like a pyramid with a square base. Its burnished golden casing is etched with more Sith runes, and the center of the dark frosted glass pulses with crimson light, like the beating of a sinister heart. From what he can tell, it seems to be fully intact.

Closing his eyes, Kylo reaches out with the Force. Around him, there is nothing but darkness, and in his hand, the source of that darkness - a black hole of the Force that holds the knowledge he seeks.

“Give me your secrets,” he says, commanding with both thought and word.

The temperature in the room plummets. An icy spear of thought pierces into his mind. He clenches his fists against the pain, the sensation eerily similar to Snoke’s invasions of his mind.

 _Greetings, Son of Darkness_ , the holocron purrs. _You are bold indeed to come here. Not many can survive the journey to this place._

The words are sharp and jagged as broken glass. He stifles a wince, and focuses on bending the holocron to his will.

“I’m not like them,” he says.

 _No_ , the holocron agrees. _You are full of darkness, and yet… there is also light._ The voice abruptly morphs into a growl. _The Dark Side cannot be denied. Unless you surrender to it, your conflict will destroy you. The Light will destroy you._

“And you won’t?” he scoffs. “I know the Dark. I know its treachery. The Dark serves _me_. I serve no master but myself.”

_Do you? You seek power above all. The Dark Side is the only path to true power. Shall I show you what you could achieve if you were to fully embrace the power that is within you?_

The red light at the holocron’s heart flares, and black mist swirls around him, obscuring everything. He reaches out for the plinth, but he can’t find it. The holocron has vanished from his hand.

In front of him, the mist begins to draw together, forming the shape of figures. Slowly, an image congeals.

It’s him, sitting on an ornately spiked obsidian throne. He’s wearing the same outfit he’s wearing now, with the addition of a midnight black cape fringed with crimson. His lightsaber rests in his lap.

His yellow eyes glow with power.

_And at your side…_

Another image appears out of the mist next to the first: an identical throne, but this one is occupied by none other than -

“Rey,” he gasps.

_You have failed to turn her yet, but the Dark Side cannot be denied. She will not resist you forever._

Rey sports a matching outfit to Kylo, all the same clothes but styled for a girl. Her hair is free from her traditional buns, flowing over shoulders. It’s one of the most alluring images he’s ever seen. Her gaze burns into his own with intensity, and she gives him a sly smile full of promise.

_This is the future. Your destiny, and hers. But beware…_

All of a sudden, Rey ignites a red double-bladed lightsaber and launches herself at him. He scrambles backward in surprise, trying to stay out of her reach. His lightsaber leaps to his hand and ignites, crackling and spitting, and he carefully deflects her next stroke.

_Without the Dark, you will fall. Without the Dark, you are powerless._

He locks sabers with Rey and forces her back, then pushes her saber out of the way and spins, reaching out with his left foot. The move sweeps her legs from under her, and her lightsaber flies from her grip.

She lands hard on the ground, defenseless, and wordlessly stares up at him. Kylo’s body moves on its own, bringing his saber down and driving the point through the center of her chest.

“No!” he shouts. “Rey!”

_Why do you fight it, child? The Dark Side is the only path to the power to fulfill your deepest desires. If you do not surrender to it, you will lose her._

“ENOUGH!” Kylo roars. He channels his fury - and fear - into the Force in another effort to control the holocron. “Enough! This is not what I came for.”

 _No?_ The holocron seems amused. _And what_ did _you come for?_

“The secret throne of the Sith,” he says. “Where is it? Where is Palpatine?”

 _Ahhh…_ The holocron laughs. _You seek the planet Exegol, the hidden kingdom of the Sith. Very well, I will give you what you ask. Perhaps what you find there will be enough to convince you of the true path you must follow._

In an instant, the mist is gone and the holocron’s presence fades from his mind with one final cackle. He drops to his knees on the floor in front of the plinth, his chest heaving. The holocron is once again clutched in his right hand. He resists the urge to smash it against the wall.

Kylo tries desperately to calm his racing heart, the encounter leaving him shaken and unsettled. But at least the infernal device did its job: the path to Exegol is now clear in his mind, as if the knowledge had always been there.

He grunts and pushes himself to his feet, then sprints briskly back to the surface.

* * *

The Knights are keeping a perimeter around the bridge as he instructed when Kylo exits from the castle. Meanwhile, Hux’s troopers continue to clean up the remainder of the Alazmec cultists.

Dozens of bodies litter the ground already, each one peppered with scorch marks. A few of the sparse trees on the plain have become casualties as well. They lie in mangled pieces on the ground, their trunks splintered by blaster fire and vibroblades.

The humid Mustafar air carries the stench of slaughter.

Kylo carefully crosses back over the bridge, surveying the destruction. The Upsilon had landed just outside the Knights’ perimeter. He spots Hux waiting for him, unbothered by the carnage.

The General turns to address him, but Kylo doesn’t wait for him. He storms past Hux, forcing the other man to keep pace with him.

“Supreme Leader,” Hux says distastefully. He eyes the holocron in Kylo’s hand. “I assume your mission was successful?”

“Yes,” he says.

“Good. When we return to the _Steadfast_ , we can set the coordinates and -“

“I’m going alone,” Kylo asserts.

“I… do not think that is wise, Supreme Leader. The mission -“

“- Is none of your concern. I’m taking my ship to Palpatine, alone. Keep the _Steadfast_ prepped for my return.”

They reach the Whisper, and Kylo begins to climb into the cockpit. Hux snarls at him, venom in his eyes.

“You may be the Supreme Leader, but this conduct is unacceptable,” he snaps. “ You are not Snoke, _Kylo Ren_. The First Order needs to be united under your command, yet you seem determined to drive it into the ground. Continuing to insist on slinking off on your own is something you simply cannot do.”

Kylo internally sighs in frustration. He doesn’t have time to deal with this right now. From atop his fighter, he turns around and holds out his hand, drawing on the Force. 

Hux starts to choke.

“It’s getting tiring listening to you try to contradict my every move,” Kylo says, voice deceptively calm. “You forget your place. I’ve already warned you several times, General. Don’t presume to question me again.”

At that, he releases Hux - who desperately sucks in air, glaring at him with hatred - and drops into his cockpit. With the flick of a few switches, the Whisperer hums to life. Kylo tucks the holocron into a storage compartment and eases the ship off the ground, up into the atmosphere.

One of his displays signals an incoming communique. He patches it through.

“Supreme Leader.” The voice belongs to General Pryde. “Was your mission successful?”

“Partially,” Kylo says shortly. “I’m heading to complete it now. Don’t follow me, and keep the _Steadfast_ ready for my return.”

Pryde’s answer is displeased, but accepting. “...As you wish, Supreme Leader.” The comm cuts out.

As he clears the atmosphere and enters Mustafar’s orbit, he programs the route to Exegol into navigation. Once it’s set, he disables the Whisperer’s built-in locator beacon. He doesn’t trust Hux not to follow him. 

That done, he pulls the lever back and catapults the ship into lightspeed.

The journey is quick. Before too long, he emerges from lightspeed into a sector of the Unknown Regions, and he thinks it’s no great wonder Exegol was never discovered. This area is the enormous void of space on the very edge of the galaxy, vast and unexplorable. Any number of mysteries could remain hidden out here for eons.

Without the knowledge from the holocron, getting to Exegol would truly be impossible. For Kylo, though, it’s as simple as following the coordinates in the navi-computer. His readout shows that the coordinates are located between two nebulae. 

Of course, the readout also shows there’s nothing _at_ the coordinates, which he knows is false. The nebulae must be interfering with the navigation system; another way the planet remained hidden all this time, perhaps.

The Whisperer’s controls start to fight him a bit as he maneuvers through the nebula, but Kylo is nothing if not an incredibly skilled pilot. He adjusts for the turbulence accordingly. Streaks of strangely-colored gases stream past the viewport, violet-tinged hues of red and purple. 

After a bit of careful flying, he emerges from the vermillion cloud, and there it is. _Exegol_.

The planet is a globe of deep azure blue. Intermittent flashes of lightning spark across it, and Kylo realizes the entire planet is covered in a layer of dark clouds that completely obscure the surface. 

It’s no matter. The knowledge ripped from the holocron tells him where to find the inverted pyramid structure that will lead him to the secret Sith throne, and he directs his TIE straight towards it. As he enters the indigo darkness, he discovers that what he thought was a layer of clouds is actually Exegol’s atmosphere.

He is essentially flying blind. His navigational readout is still scrambled, and around him is nothing but darkness. All he has to guide him are the frequent streaks of lightning that briefly illuminate the atmosphere.

He could also reach out to the Force, but it feels… _wrong_ , here. There’s just an inexplicable sense of _unnaturality_ that he can’t quite put his finger on. He can sense it even from the cockpit of his TIE. 

It makes his insides churn. His grip tightens on the controls.

Palpatine is down there somewhere. Whatever happens, Kylo needs answers. His plan is to kill the old Emperor, of course, but there is information he needs to extract from him before he does so.

The pointed tips of the Whisperer’s wings slice through the thick atmosphere, a black knife in the darkness. As he comes out the other side, the surface of Exegol is finally revealed.

A vast stone city sprawls below him. Most of the colossal buildings are in pieces, ruined by a battle ages past, though some remain largely intact. One such structure is a gigantic flat plane of stone, several thousand feet square, bifurcated by a small gap down the middle. From the air, it almost looks like a set of giant hangar doors. In the center of the ancient metropolis is a circle of open land, in the middle of which stands the destination of Kylo’s mission.

It’s impossible to miss. The inverted pyramid towers above the rest of the ruined city. Kylo aims his ship for the open circular area surrounding it and lands on the edge.

Without hesitation, he climbs from his cockpit and leaps off the TIE’s hull. He draws his saber and ignites it, then strides purposefully towards the temple.

It’s cold, uncomfortable even through the layers of his padded tunic and cloak. Lightning strikes the cracked ground all around him as he walks. He’s never known lightning to make a sound, but each bolt on Exegol fills the frigid air with an inhuman screech. Kylo fights to ignore it all and keep his focus on his goal.

He is close now - so, so close. He can not afford to falter.

The air in the inside of the inverted pyramid is thick with the Dark Side. It’s even stronger here than it was in Vader’s castle, a suffocating blanket of shadows pressing in on his consciousness. The whispers of the Dark call to him invitingly. 

He has to suppress a shiver.

Kylo steps onto a large circular platform cut into the stone ground. It rumbles and shakes under his feet, then slowly begins to descend.

For a few seconds, all he can see is stone as the platform sinks down through several dozen feet of ground. Soon, the platform drops past the bottom edge, and he can see the enormous cavern concealed underneath.

The floor is nearly a hundred feet below him. The cavern extends in a straight line from where the platform will land before fanning out into numerous tributary passages. Dominating the main hall are dozens of fifty-foot-tall statues of Sith long dead, lined up in two rows flanking the middle. Kylo recognizes none of them, but that doesn’t really detract from the intimidating effect.

**_At last._ **

The deep, sonorous voice echoes around him as the platform descends to the height of the statues’ heads. It’s a voice filled with power, a voice whose very utterance commands attention. He has never heard the voice before, but that doesn’t matter. There is only one person it could be. 

**_Long have I waited._ **

The platform finally touches down on the ground. A cold coil of dread settles in the pit of his stomach. He tries his best to stamp it down and begins to move forward.

Even below the surface, the lightning continues unabated. The flashes they provide are the only source of light in the cavern. Each unholy shriek seems to bounce off the stone walls and magnify.

**_I never doubted you would find this place. Snoke trained you well._ **

Hearing that name spoken with such satisfaction by Palpatine and the reminder of his training nearly makes him flinch. Instead, he redirects his fear into anger.

“I killed Snoke,” he says. “I’ll kill you.” The words are confident even if he is not.

He barely even needs to feel the Force to find where Palpatine is. He’s never sensed the Dark Side so concentrated before, not even from Snoke. All he has to do is follow it.

He keeps moving forward.

 **_My boy…_ ** A note of distinct amusement enters Palpatine’s voice. **_I_ ** **made** **_Snoke._ **

As Palpatine delivers the words, Kylo steps through an archway and into another section of the cavern. In front of him are dozens of bacta tanks bigger than he is, tended to by faceless figures shrouded in black cloaks. Most of the tanks’ contents are obscured by the liquid and thick glass, but the one directly beside him is close enough and clear enough to peer into.

The severed halves of Snoke’s body float suspended in the liquid. Kylo battles a surge of revulsion. He keeps walking carefully through the room. Palpatine’s Force signature is getting closer.

 **_I have been with you since the beginning, Ben Solo._ **

The name is a spoken sneer, a taunt that strikes true at his core. Kylo snarls. He will only ever allow one person to use that name, only one.

 **_I have been every voice_ ** _you have ever heard_ **inside your head** **_._ ** Throughout the sentence, Palpatine’s voice morphs, first into the rough growl of Snoke and then the mechanized modulation of Darth Vader.

Kylo freezes. 

No, it’s not possible… He dedicated his life to the image of Darth Vader. He embraced his grandfather’s legacy and believed in it wholeheartedly. For years, he thought his grandfather spoke to him to reassure him of his choices. If it was really Palpatine who had spoken to him in his grandfather’s voice... what had he truly been fighting for all these years? How far astray has he been led?

He doesn’t know anymore what was a lie and what wasn’t.

**_The new might of the First Order will soon be ready to dominate the galaxy._ **

“The First Order belongs to me now,” Kylo says. “They follow my command.”

He continues to weave cautiously between the bacta tanks, searching for where Palpatine is hiding.

A malicious chuckle surrounds him. **_Is that what you think, boy? The First Order was mine from the beginning. Did you never wonder how Snoke was able to gather its resources so quickly? The Order rose from the ashes of the Empire at_ ** **my** **_directive, under_ ** **my** **_guidance. In the end, it will always answer to me._ **

“I assume you’re referring to General Pryde,” says Kylo. “Your latest attempt to manipulate me.”

Palpatine laughs again. **_Good, good. You do not disappoint, indeed._ **

“He’s your puppet, no? You’ve been using him to undercut my decisions and keep tabs on me.”

**_In a way. The old General has remained hidden here for decades on my orders, overseeing the execution of my will. I sent him to you to ensure that the First Order was ready for what I intended. Now, however, his usefulness has nearly run its course._ **

“And why is that?”

 **_Because now that you are here,_ ** **you** **_will carry out my wishes._ **

Finally, Kylo rounds another corner and sees him. Palpatine’s body is attached to a large crane-like apparatus. Dozens of tubes and wires disappear into his black robe. Lightning flashes, lighting the face underneath the hood. Kylo sees pale, ruined skin, milky eyes, and black, cracked lips.

“I didn’t come here to bow to you,” he says. He levels his saber at the center of Palpatine’s chest. “I came here to kill you.”

 **_Do it, then. Kill me._ ** His tone is utterly unbothered, even encouraging. **_It will change nothing._ **

Kylo glances over his body and the machine supporting it. His lip curls. 

He could do it. It would be laughably easy. The old Emperor is defenseless, suspended helplessly by technology. But something stays his hand. He hesitates. Both choices will ultimately result in playing into Palpatine’s hand, so for now, he decides to hear him out.

“Why not?”

**_I have conquered death. Strike me down, and my spirit will live on to complete my revenge in another vessel._ **

“How is that possible?”

**_The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be… unnatural. My old master was a fool, but he was useful. Together, we uncovered the deepest secrets of the ancient Sith, and when we finally learned the knowledge I desired, I slit his throat in his sleep._ **

“I don’t believe you. The Jedi would have destroyed that knowledge.”

**_My boy… I have existed since long before the Jedi came to power. The knowledge they thought they destroyed was always preserved in one place no one ever knew to look: my mind. I took the guise of a senator from Naboo, and rose to create the empire through decades of careful planning. But the one they knew as Sheev Palpatine was not my first form… nor my last._ **

“You expect me to believe you’ve been hopping from body to body like a virus for hundreds of years?” Kylo asks. He shakes his head. “No. The Force is strong, but that is beyond even its reach.”

**_You know nothing of the Force, foolish child. The ancient Sith knew how to use their power to preserve their spirit beyond the death of its vessel. They could then possess the bodies of others, or even exist temporarily in a form of pure energy sustained by the Force. Their knowledge died with them, but I… I resurrected it, just as it has since resurrected me._ **

Kylo narrows his eyes. “Let’s say I believe you. What is it you want?”

Palpatine’s ghoulish smirk grows. **_What we both want… the girl._ **

His saber had been resting at his side, pointed at the ground, but now he swiftly brings it back to bear in front of Palpatine’s head. “The girl is mine,” he growls.

**_Yet you have failed to turn her to the Dark Side._ **

“She knows the Dark, but she still futilely refuses to embrace it. That will change soon.”

**_Not soon enough. Bring her here, and together, we will turn her to the Dark. Then the two of you will lead the First Order to victory and rule over the galaxy side-by-side; a new Empire, to last a thousand generations._ **

Kylo knows it can’t be that simple. He knows beyond a shadow of a doubt there’s something Palpatine isn’t telling him, but at the moment, it doesn’t matter. He has no other options. He can’t kill him, and for now, his goals are aligned with Palpatine’s. 

Kylo lowers his saber and flicks the ignition off. “Fine,” he says.

Palpatine’s arrogance will blind him, he decides. Kylo will continue to hunt Rey, but he will not bring her to Exegol. He will turn her to the Dark himself, and when he does, they will destroy Palpatine together. She will take her place at his side, as she should have done after he killed Snoke for her.

They are meant to be together, after all. There is no resisting it. Soon Rey will come to accept her destiny just as he has, and then they will be unstoppable.


	2. The Informant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Poe receive intel for the Resistance; Kylo broods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are for round 2! This fic is coming along nicely, and I'm really excited to keep working on it.
> 
> From Kat: Thank you for all your support! We really appreciate it<3 For anyone starting their spring semester, _fighting!_
> 
> She's a weeb what can I say.  
> Enjoy!

#### II

The Informant

The _Millennium Falcon_ hurtles through hyperspace. In the common room, Finn sits next to Poe on the circular couch as they pass the time with holochess. Chewbacca faces them from the other side of the dejarik board, scanning over the holographic pieces intently.

Poe leans forward and gives Chewie an irritated look. “You ever gonna go?” he asks snidely.

Chewie’s only response is to glare at him. Poe throws his arms up and shakes his head in annoyance.

“He can’t beat us every time,” Finn mutters.

“Apparently he can.”

“Are we really this bad?”

“I don’t know.”

“How does he do it?”

“This guy right here? You mean _Han Solo’s_ partner? It’s obvious, he cheats.”

Chewie roars at Poe, and they both begin to talk over each other in their haste to backtrack.

“Kidding, I’m kidding! You’re 250 years old, I’m sure you have a lot of experience playing this game, it’s no wonder you win so much.”

“Come on, just take your turn. You’re just - you’re taking forever, okay, that’s cheating - that’s why we think you’re cheating.”

An alert from the navigation system begins to sound before Chewie can respond.

“That’s gotta be the autopilot,” Poe says, and Finn can tell he’s secretly grateful for the interruption. “We must be about ready to drop out of lightspeed.”

Chewie gets up and growls in Shyriiwook. Neither of them are fluent, but they’re pretty sure it's something along the lines of, _Touch the game, and you lose an arm_.

“Stars, man, settle down,” Poe says.

“Don’t worry, we’re not gonna turn it off,” Finn reassures Chewie as he heads for the cockpit. Finn waits a second to be sure he’s out of earshot, then says, “He has to be cheating.”

“Definitely,” Poe agrees, and switches the board off. 

They both stand and follow Chewie to the helm.

Poe slides into the pilot’s chair with one more hairy side-eye at the Wookiee. Behind him, Finn drops into the passenger seat as Poe disengages the autopilot and brings the _Falcon_ out of lightspeed.

“It doesn’t look like much,” Finn points out.

“Yeah, well, our guy’s there, we just gotta get to him,” Poe says.

The Sinta Glacier fills their field of vision, an enormous mountain of ice orbiting the main star of the Sinta system. It’s a mass of white and pale blue, sporting dozens of frosted peaks jutting out into space.

“Ok, uh, not to put a damper on things, but… where’s the colony?” Finn asks. “All I see is barren ice.”

“It’s inside,” says Poe. He directs the _Falcon_ towards an entrance cut into the glacier shielded by an atmospheric force field.

“That thing’s hollow?”

“Not completely. The colony’s built into it. It’s bigger than it looks from the outside, anyway.”

“I hope we can find him without too much trouble then,” Finn mutters, peering out the front viewport to try to reassess the glacier’s size.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Poe says. “Boolio gave us coordinates for the drop. We’ll slip in, get the intel, and slip out before anyone notices.”

“What if someone notices?”

“Then we’ll deal with it.” Poe spares him a brief exasperated glance before turning back to the controls. “We’re gonna be fine, Finn. How ‘bout a little more positivity here, huh, buddy?”

“Sorry, sorry.” Finn sighs. Then, with a dirty look at Chewie, adds, “It’s the dejarik. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m gonna be seeing those stupid pieces in my nightmares tonight.” He’s only half-joking.

Poe mirrors his sigh. “Me too, pal… me, too.”

Chewie just offers a snorting laugh, which his companions surreptitiously ignore.

Poe navigates the _Falcon_ expertly through the tight corridors on the interior of the glacier. With a flourish, he spins the ship around and drifts to align the top hatch with a bulkhead door on the bottom of one of the durasteel hallways.

“Alright, these are the coordinates he gave us,” he says. “Let’s see what he's got. Finn?”

“On it!”

Finn leaps up from his seat and into the hallway. He presses a button, triggering the top hatch iris to open. A few seconds later, the bulkhead door above slides open as well, revealing the face of their Ovissian contact.

“It’s about time you got here,” he says.

“Boolio, it’s good to see you,” Finn greets. Relief floods him that his worry about finding their contact was unfounded. “You got something for us?”

The Ovissian nods. “A gift from a new ally,” he says. “A spy in the First Order.”

Finn stares at him. “A spy? Who?”

“I don’t know. He reached out to me anonymously and coordinated a drop for me to pick up the package. I never met him.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. A package? I thought we were getting a data transfer?”

“Change of plans.” Boolio reaches behind him and grabs something, then tosses it down through the opening and into Finn’s hands.

It’s a small black box, bulky and rectangular. On one of the large faces, there’s a screen and a standard Aurebesh keyboard. Finn examines it carefully.

“It’s an old-fashioned two-way communicator,” Boolio explains. “And when I say old-fashioned, I mean _really old_. It’s favored by smugglers and black market dealers; the technology is so old, it’s basically impossible to hack. No interceptions, no tracking. Your spy wants to be able to send you real-time updates as new information comes in. That’s a pretty good way to do it without the First Order finding out and tracking you both down.”

Suddenly, Poe’s voice shouts from the cockpit down the hall. “Finn, we got company! You might wanna pick up the pace!”

“Almost ready!” Finn yells back. He turns to the Ovissian one more time. “Thank you so much, Boolio,” he says, quickly but earnestly. He glances at the device one more time. “You’re sure this is safe?”

“As safe as contacting anyone inside the Order can be. Now go, quickly!”

“Alright… I guess it’s a risk we have to take. How can we repay you?”

“Win the war!” Boolio says, a smile on his face. Then the bulkhead door slams closed.

“Alright, we’re good to go!” Finn calls to Poe. He shuts the _Falcon_ ’s hatch and dashes back down the hall to the cockpit. Poe engages the thrusters, and the old freighter blasts off through the Glacier Colony with several TIE fighters hot on its tail. Laser blasts paint the ice around them emerald green as Poe dips and dives, trying to evade their weapons. 

At Finn’s return, Poe chances a quick look up at him and notices the device clutched in his hand. When he returns his focus to piloting, he asks, “That’s what Boolio had?”

“Yeah,” Finn says. “From a spy in the First Order, but he doesn’t know who. Apparently this is supposed to let us contact him.” He starts to fiddle around with the communicator.

“I’m as excited about a spy as you are, Finn, but maybe now isn’t the best time for that,” Poe says, flying around a corner and narrowly dodging a spur of ice.

Finn grabs hold of an armrest as the force of the turn threatens to throw him off his feet. “Good point,” he says, steadying himself. “I should probably go do something about those TIEs.”

“Yeah, buddy, you probably should,” says Poe, a little facetiously.

Finn sprints out of the cockpit and into the corridor, as quickly as he can without falling on his face. He keeps his right hand on the wall for stability, and he’s able to make it to the ladder that leads to the bottom turbolaser cannon controls. He hurriedly straps himself in to the seat, booting up the targeting computer and putting on the headset.

“I’m here, Poe, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, buddy,” comes the response. “Any time you wanna start shooting back at them, just, you know, feel free.”

Finn doesn’t bother to fight the urge to roll his eyes, knowing that Poe can’t see him.

“You just rolled your eyes at me, didn’t you?”

“Nope, definitely didn’t,” says Finn, and opens fire on the TIEs.

The sudden activation of the _Falcon_ ’s weapons catches them by surprise, and he’s able to destroy one almost immediately. The rest begin to fly erratically to avoid him, but keep up their barrage of fire against the ship. They manage to land some hits, causing the ship to jerk and shake.

After several minutes of this, Poe’s voice comes back over the comms. “Hey, Finn, I got an idea. You remember that stunt we pulled on the Fondor mission?”

“Uh, vaguely. You wanna try that here?”

“Yeah, we’ve got an opportunity up ahead, I think we can boulder these guys.”

“You line me up, I’ll hit it,” Finn assures him.

“That’s what I like to hear. Get ready.”

Finn continues to fire at the oncoming fighters, but he prepares himself for whatever it is Poe’s planning. Suddenly, the ship flips upside-down, and Finn can see above them (or below them?) a length of metal scaffolding that stretches across the width of the icy tunnel. 

“Now!” Poe shouts. Finn squeezes the triggers.

The bolts land true, blasting apart the cables suspending the apparatus from the ceiling. The entire piece of metal collapses - right onto the pursuing TIEs as they attempt to fly under it. The pilots have no time to react to avoid the collision. The sound of multiple crashes echoes through the tunnel as the TIEs slam into the broken metal at top speed and explode.

Finn whoops. “That’s how we do it!”

“Nice work!” Poe cheers. “Now get up here while I get us into lightspeed so we can have a look at that thing.”

“On my way,” says Finn. “Great flying, Poe!”

“Thanks, buddy.”

By the time Finn powers down the targeting system and makes his way up the ladder and back into the cockpit, the front viewport is already filled with the blurred blues and whites of lightspeed. He takes the passenger chair behind Chewie and picks up the communication device from where he’d left it on the ground. Poe locks the _Falcon_ ’s autopilot to a nearby system, and Finn frowns.

“Aren’t we going back to base?” he asks, confused.

“Eventually,” Poe says. “But those fighters found us in Sinta pretty quickly. I just want to make sure they can’t track us back to base. We’ll drop by a few nearby inhabited planets to confuse the trail, then jump back to Ajan Kloss.”

Finn nods. “Good idea.”

Poe gestures at the communicator and looks at him expectantly. “Well?”

Finn takes a deep breath. Then he closes his eyes and presses the ‘on’ button - at least he thinks it’s the ‘on’ button - half-expecting for the entire thing to self-destruct in his hands and blow them all to smithereens.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t. The device powers on with a slight hum, and the screen on the front lights up blue. There are already words scrolling across it.

“‘Once the device is in your possession, send a confirmation message,’” Finn reads out. “Okay… simple enough.” He types out a quick message, then sends it off.

Poe tries to lean over and see what he typed, but he can’t get a good enough look at it. “What’d you say?” he asks.

“Nothing crazy, just, ‘This is the Resistance, we have your package.’”

“Straight to the point.”

“Hey, I’m just following the instructions.”

“Well what if the instructions are - “

A beep from the device interrupts him, indicating the arrival of a new message. 

“I guess our guy’s been waiting for us,” says Finn. “Hold that thought.” He opens the message and scans it quickly.

_FO: May I ask who I have the displeasure of speaking to?_

“I don’t kriffing think so,” Poe grumbles when Finn reads it to him.

“Agreed.” He starts typing a reply, and again, Poe can’t quite see what it is, though not for lack of trying.

“What are you telling him?”

“Can you please be patient?”

**R: Only if you give us the same courtesy.**

Finn relates the message he sent, and Poe nods approvingly. “Nice,” he says. “Make sure he knows we aren’t gonna let him push us around.”

The device beeps again.

_FO: Fine, no names._

“Ha,” Finn says. “That’s what I thought.”

“So what’s the intel? Did you ask him yet?”

“I’m getting there, will you shut up and let me handle this?”

“Okay, okay, sorry.”

“Thank you.” 

**R: What do you have for us?**

The response that comes next leaves Finn speechless.

_FO: Kylo Ren has confirmed the return of Emperor Palpatine. The transmission was no hoax. He recently returned from a mission to Mustafar in the Outer Rim to acquire an artifact he needed to find Palpatine. He left the planet alone, and I’ve no idea where he went. He has called for a meeting of High Command early tomorrow; I will be able to provide you with details after it is complete._

“Wow, that... is not good,” says Finn.

“What is it?” Poe asks. “Big?”

“Big.”

“How big?”

Finn wordlessly hands the device over to Poe to let him read the transmission. When he’s finished, he whistles. “Ah… that big.”

“That big,” Finn echoes. He takes the communicator back from Poe and keys in a response.

**R: You’re sure?**

_FO: Undoubtedly._

Finn rubs his forehead and groans. “Okay, this is _really_ not good,” he says.

“No kidding.”

Chewie roars mournfully.

Poe scratches his chin. “He said he’ll have details after the High Command meeting,” he says thoughtfully. “How does he have access to that meeting? Are we supposed to believe someone in _High Command_ is willingly leaking us information?”

“It does seem a little strange,” Finn says. “I can ask him. I doubt he’ll tell us, but we might learn something from his response anyway.”

“Go ahead.”

**R: That’s some incredibly valuable information… how did you get it? Why are you doing this?**

_FO: None of your concern. We agreed on information, no questions asked… simply suffice to say I wish to see a change in leadership. I’m disconnecting now - I will re-establish contact after the meeting._

“Yeah, it’s like I thought,” Finn says. “He won’t say anything. And now he’s gone until the meeting tomorrow.”

“Figures,” Poe says. “It’s alright, though. What he gave us will still be useful to Leia until then. Let’s just get back to her as soon as possible so we can start deciding what to do about this.”

* * *

Kylo watches dispassionately as the First Order smith welds the jagged fragments of his mask back together.

In truth, he’d much rather leave it to rot in pieces. But, this past year as Supreme Leader has seen him forced to make a lot of decisions in opposition to his personal desires, and this is no different. It’s been a long time since he interacted with the Knights of Ren; because of that, and combined with the increasing friction between him and his upper echelon of generals since the arrival of Pryde, he can’t afford to show any weakness. Unfortunately, that means donning the mask again.

It feels like a regression. That mask was the creation of a lost boy manipulated by Snoke - and, by extension, Palpatine - not the man who had finally broken free of those chains. In many ways, it’s a symbol of the torment he endured during the years of misery under Snoke’s thumb.

The mask is something he needs right now, though, and he will endure it just as he always has endured everything else. The pain associated with its memories will only make him stronger.

The crafting complete, Kylo grabs the mask and unceremoniously slips it over his head. As he leads the Knights through the corridors of the _Steadfast_ , he tries to slip back into the old comfort the mask used to provide him and use it to manufacture confidence and self-assurance.

It doesn’t really work. In fact, he’s beginning to feel more unbalanced now than ever before. He would hardly admit it to himself, but he’s still reeling to process everything that Palpatine revealed to him on Exegol of the true extent of his machinations. For now, he’s shoved it into the deepest, darkest corner of his mind. To bring it to light would mean recognizing that everything he’s done so far - every choice he has made along this path - has been for nothing; little more than a continuous lie told to control him.

That is something he cannot acknowledge. Not now, maybe not ever.

When they arrive at the conference room in which the High Command meeting is taking place, Kylo instructs the Knights to enter with him and stand beside the door. Their intimidation factor is high, and he intends to make full use of it to make his generals as uncomfortable as possible. 

With a slight bit of dramatic flair, Kylo strides into the room and drops the severed head of the Ovissian rat onto the end of the table. “We have a spy in our ranks,” he announces. 

The previous chatter in the room goes utterly silent.

Kylo walks slowly around the table towards the head of the room, prowling like a predator. “Someone in the First Order has made contact with the Resistance, through that Ovissian scum,” he continues. “If the traitor is one of you in this room, know that I will find out soon enough, and my retribution will be swift and terrible.”

No one speaks up. The Force is ripe with their anxiousness. Kylo drinks it in greedily. He decides to play on their fear a little bit by singling out the one who has been the biggest thorn in his side.

“I sense unease about my appearance… General Hux,” Kylo says.

Everyone turns to regard Hux. “About the mask?” he says nervously. “No, sir. Well done.” The response comes quickly, but Kylo feels his uncertainty.

“Forgive me, sir, but these allies on Exegol… they sound like a cult,” says one of the generals. “Conjurers and soothsayers.”

“How little you know,” Kylo says disparagingly. “I’ve told you already that our ally on Exegol is none other than the former Emperor Palpatine. He has nearly finished construction of a new Dreadnought equipped with the power to destroy planets; a new flagship to lead the First Order fleet to victory.”

General Pryde smiles a devilish smile, sending a scornful look across the table towards Hux. “Such range and power will correct the error of Starkiller Base,” he says.

Hux’s eye twitches, but he doesn’t rise to the gibe.

“This Dreadnought; what is it, a gift?” the first general says. “What is Palpatine asking for in return? Does - “

Kylo’s had enough of him. He reaches out a hand to Force choke the general, then throws him up to the ceiling. 

“My patience for insubordination runs increasingly thin,” he says, the modulator in his mask serving to make his voice more menacing. “The Emperor’s Dreadnought will soon be ready. Prepare to crush any worlds that defy us.”

“What will you do, Supreme Leader?” asks Pryde.

Kylo’s savage grin is hidden behind the mask, invisible to all but him. 

“The Knights and I are going hunting for the scavenger.”


	3. The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey trains; Finn and Poe bring news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our first Reylo interaction, brief though it is... we move onward.
> 
> From Kat: _Training montage intensifies_
> 
> Enjoy!

####  III

The Mission

Sometimes, Rey really wishes her survival instincts would just shut up and leave her alone.

Her body has always been keyed for constant movement. As a scavenger on Jakku, staying alive meant staying active and staying alert. On the occasions when a vicious sandstorm would force her to remain in shelter, she would quickly grow restless cooped up in the shell of her old AT-AT for days on end. She would always try to find ways to pass the time, but she was never good at sitting still and being patient, and the frustration from being unable to complete her daily scavenging tasks would slowly begin to drive her mad.

It’s a trait that similarly hinders her now.

She hovers cross-legged a few feet in the air, surrounded by the ambient noises of the Ajan Kloss jungle. Her eyes are closed as she connects with the Force around her. She’s attempting to focus her meditation on the objects in front of her, and she’s failing miserably.

Of course, having a Sith wannabe linked with her mind all the time doesn’t help.

She can feel him, like always, just on the edge of her consciousness. He’s not pushing the connection right now - something for which she’s very grateful - but she can still sense the hint of his emotions through the mental barriers she maintains to shield herself from him. The effort of her defense and the constant background murmur of his darkness just on the other side of it is enough to consistently throw off her concentration and keep her thoughts in turmoil. 

With a groan of frustration, she opens her eyes and lets go of the Force, falling gently to the mossy ground and alighting back on her feet. From where they were levitating in front of her, the two broken halves of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber drop into her palm. Rey looks up to find Leia watching her, a sympathetic expression on her face.

Rey walks over to her and sighs. “Still nothing,” she says. “I can feel the crystal, but it won’t respond to me. I’m starting to think healing it is impossible.”

“Give it time, Rey,” Leia consoles her. “Nothing is impossible.”

“I know, I just… it doesn’t seem to matter what I try. Nothing is working.”

Leia sighs. “I wish I could be more help. All I know about kyber crystals is what Luke told me when he helped me make my saber: that the crystals are sentient, and we interact with them by meditating on them. The only advice I can give you is to keep trying.”

Rey gives a weak smile. “I know. I will.” She looks out through the trees and sighs again. “I’m going to go run the training course,” she says. “Maybe it will help clear my head.”

“Do what you need to do,” Leia tells her. “Here, you’ll need this.” She pulls her own saber from her belt and hands it to Rey. In exchange, Rey passes her the broken saber as she takes Leia’s from her hands.

“Thank you, Master,” Rey says, a more genuine smile curling her lips. Then she ignites the blue lightsaber and sprints off into the jungle.

Once the humid air is moving through her clothes and whipping her hair around her face, Rey feels her mood start to lift. The exhilaration of the exercise floods her veins and banishes most of her earlier frustration. She dashes down the trail they set out for the training course, deftly leaping over downed trees and loose rocks. She comes quickly to the ravine, and the entire valley is laid out to her left. 

No matter how many times she admires the view, it will never cease to leave her breathless. The vibrant green hues of the plant life inspire the same rush of wonder she had experienced upon arriving at Takodana for the first time. Sparkling azure waterfalls tumble down from one side of the forested cliffs surrounding the valley. At this distance, the crashing of their splashes is dulled to a gentle roar, a soothing background drone that helps mitigate the constant hum of Kylo’s lingering turmoil in the back of her mind.

She picks up the pilot’s helmet mounted on the stake she set up and puts it on, drawing the metal shield down over her face and blinding herself. Reaching out to the Force, she uses it to feel her surroundings and cross the single branch that spans the ravine without the use of her vision. 

As she steps out onto it, she hears the latest training droid she programmed whiz out of the trees and begin to take potshots at her with its non-lethal lasers. She deflects them away with Leia’s saber - even after almost a year, she cannot truly think of it as  _ hers _ , not yet - while being careful to maintain her balance on the branch.

She makes it to the other side without the droid scoring a hit. When her feet are back on solid ground, she removes the helmet and tosses it to the ground. Dashing forward, Rey climbs up the trunk of a tree in one, two, three steps, grabbing the branch where a red ribbon hangs. She cuts the ribbon in half with the saber and drops to the ground, catching the severed ribbon as it falls.

The spherical droid continues to follow her as she runs back towards the ravine. For this part of the course, she ignores the makeshift bridge and simply jumps the distance herself, the Force aiding her. She lands in stride and keeps running.

Surprising her, the droid swoops down at her feet and trips her. She lands hard on her palms on the dirt, gritting her teeth in frustration at letting the droid get the better of her. She stands and hefts Leia’s saber, looking around for the droid.

That’s when she feels  _ him. _

She hasn’t felt anything this strongly from him since the last time the connection manifested, almost two standard weeks ago. His simmering anger is bubbling through the cracks in her walls simply from its intensity, and she wonders if he’s doing this on purpose to try to break through.

_ Rey. _

Ah. He is, then, the bastard.

She feels his call of her name slip across the bond from his mind to hers, and she tries to draw on his own anger and channel it to block him out. 

“ _ No _ ,” she growls, both in her mind and out loud.  _ “Get out.” _

_ I only want to talk. _

_ “I have nothing to say to you.” _

Her distraction causes the droid to land a hit on her shoulder. The low-powered lasers do little more than sting, but it’s a blow to her pride that compounds her growing frustration. She allows Kylo’s rage to continue to flow into her, and she hacks at the droid with the saber.

It dodges away from her erratic swings. A few more of its strikes land on her exposed skin. She feels Kylo’s darkness seep through the bond a little more, and beginning to feel her control waver, she panics. She throws Leia’s saber at the droid; the floating sphere evades it, but in doing so, jerks back into her range. She picks up a branch from the ground, pirouettes, and drives the makeshift weapon straight through the training droid, skewering its wreckage against a tree.

Leia’s saber flies back into her palm.

With that out of the way, she stands still and focuses on her breathing. She closes her eyes and listens to the jungle around her - the sounds of the wildlife, the breeze ruffling through the leaves, and farther away, the dull pounding of the waterfalls.

Slowly, she begins to calm. Her mental wall across the bond is reinforced, and Kylo’s fury drains out of her. She’s left sweaty and exhausted, disheartened by another day of failure. She hears a plaintive beep, and turns her head.

BB-8 is trapped under the fallen trunk of a tree she’d accidentally cut down during her frenzy. She rushes over to him, spewing apologies. She lifts the trunk of the tree off of him and checks him for damage. Fortunately, it’s not too bad, but Poe probably isn’t going to be too happy with her whenever he returns from their mission.

Brushing her hand over the droid’s metal plating, Rey sighs. “I’m sorry, BB-8,” she says. “It’s just been one of those days.”

BB-8 assures her that he’s fine and it’s no big deal. So, with the droid rolling alongside her, she trudges listlessly back to the Resistance base.

Leia is waiting for her when she returns. She takes in Rey’s ruffled and dirty appearance and compassion fills her expression.

Rey walks up to her, eyes downcast. “I didn’t finish the course,” she says. “Got distracted. I just - I’m not feeling like myself right now.”

“It’s alright, Rey,” Leia says, her voice kind. “You should never be ashamed of failure. What matters is how you handle it.”

“I know,” Rey says. “And I know it looks like I’m making excuses, but…”

“Don’t tell me what it looks like, tell me what it is.”

Rey raises her head to meet her eyes, seeing the earnest worry Leia holds for her. For a moment, she nearly cracks and considers telling her everything - about the bond, about the  _ Supremacy _ , everything.

But she can’t do it. She’s kept the events that transpired between her and Be-Kylo (including the bond) a secret over the past year for so many reasons, and as much as she loves and trusts Leia, she just can’t let her know about it. 

No one can know.

So instead, she sighs. “I think I’m just tired. And frustrated. I don’t know what I need to do, or even what I  _ can _ do, really.” She offers Leia her saber back. “I will earn the right to carry your saber,” she promises. “One day.”

Leia accepts it with a sad smile. “I know you will,” she says. “Maybe sooner than you think.”

“Thank you, Master. Please, excuse me, I need to rest for a bit.”

“Of course, Rey. Take all the time you need.”

Thanking her again, Rey heads for her own quarters inside the cave where the main headquarters is located. She simply drops like a stone onto the bed, and she’s asleep within minutes.

She’s woken an indeterminate amount of time later by a shout of her name. “Rey!  _ Falcon’ _ s back!”

Shaking off her stupor, she stretches, feeling only slightly revitalized by the nap. She leaves her rooms and jogs outside to the areas designated for landing incoming ships.

The  _ Falcon _ is back, alright… and it’s on fire. Numerous flames lick the side of the ship in several locations. She can see fresh carbon scoring on the back of the hull, just above the thrusters, and she rubs her temples.

She hears Poe giving instructions to the mechanic crew and strides in his direction. He sees her at the same time and makes his way towards her.

“Hey,” Rey calls.

“Hey.”

“There’s a spy?”

“Really coulda… used your help out there, ya know,” Poe says,as if he hadn’t heard her question. He’s slightly out of breath.

“How’d it go?”

“You can’t tell?”

“Han’s ship…”

Poe catches sight of BB-8. “What’d you do to the droid?”

“What’d you do to the  _ Falcon? _ ”

“The  _ Falcon’ _ s in a lot better shape than he is.”

“BB-8’s not on fire - “

“Yeah, what’s left of him isn’t on fire.”

“Just tell me what happened.”

“You tell me first.”

“You know what you are?” says Rey, giving him a sarcastic smile. “You’re difficult. Really difficult. You’re a difficult man. And I’ve had a difficult day, so I really don’t want to do this right now.”

“You know what, you’re also, just, mmm…” Luckily for them both, Poe doesn’t get to finish the thought.

“Rey!” calls Finn, finally descending from the  _ Falcon’ _ s ramp.

“Finn!” she says with genuine happiness. “You made it back!” She runs up to him and wraps her closest friend in a hug.

“Yeah, barely,” Finn says.

“Bad mood?”

“What, me?”

“Him.” She jerks her head back in Poe’s direction.

Finn purses his lips. “Always.”

“Figures. So do we have a spy?”

Before Finn can respond, a roar from Chewie interrupts him. Rey looks over at him, and he throws his hands up in frustration as he continues to growl in Shyriiwook.

Rey looks over at Poe accusingly. “You made  _ how many  _ jumps?”

“I got us back here, didn’t I?” Poe shoots back.

“Poe! The compressor’s down!”

“Oh, I know. I was there.”

“Every time,” Finn mutters to himself.

“You can’t make that many jumps so close together, the  _ Falcon’ _ s hyperdrive can’t handle it!”

“Actually, it can, apparently, so…”

“Poe…” Finn says, trying to get his friends to stop looking like they want to kill each other.

“Well, what? What does she want me to say? It’s not like I had a choice. We had to get back here quickly, and we had to make sure the First Order couldn’t follow our trail.”

“Hey, both of you just can it, okay?” Finn says. “Do we have to do this every time?”

Rey wants to argue, but for Finn’s sake, decides against it. She takes a breath and asks, one more time, “What happened?”

“Bad news, that’s what happened,” Poe says.

“No spy?”

“No, spy.”

“Well did we make contact with them or not?”

“Yes, we did,” Finn says with a pointed look at Poe. “There’s a mole in the First Order, and they reached out to us with a message.”

“You dropped a tree on him?” Poe says disbelievingly.

Chewie moans loudly at Rey.

“You blew  _ both _ sub-alternators?” she counters.

“Guys…” Finn groans, putting his head in his hands.

“You should have been out there with us.”

“You know I want to be,” Rey argues.

“But you’re not. You’re here, training. For what, exactly?”

“You know it’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple,” Poe says. “You’re the best fighter we have.” Rey thinks there may be a hint of resentment in his tone. “We need you out there” - he gestures vaguely at the sky - “not here.” He turns on his heel and stomps back toward the base, issuing more orders as he goes.

“He’s not wrong,” Finn says quietly into the silence left in Poe’s wake.

Rey sighs. “I know. That’s what makes it worse. I understand his frustration, believe me I do, but…” She sighs again, then turns to Finn. “So what’s the message?”

“You’ll find out in a minute,” Finn answers. “Poe’s calling a meeting about it as we speak.”

“A meeting of who?”

Finn’s mouth is set in a grim line. “Everyone.”

If Rey initially thought he was joking or exaggerating, she is quickly proven wrong. When they enter the cavern headquarters together, what looks to be the entire Resistance - minus the ones out on missions, of course, and the crew working on the  _ Falcon _ \- is gathered around a databank that Poe is leaning on. Finn and Rey slip in to stand next to Leia as Poe begins speaking.

“We’ve received intel from a First Order spy, and it confirms the worst,” he says. He pauses, and shakes his head in resignation. “Somehow Palpatine’s returned.”

A hiss of frightened whispers rises into the air as the assembled crowd try to process this information.

“But… are we sure we believe this?” The voice of Rose Tico emerges from the chaos, and the people quiet. 

“It does make some horrible sense,” says Beaumont Kin, a former historian and a captain in the Resistance’s intelligence division. “The Emperor was always obsessed with unearthing hidden secrets only the ancient Sith knew. And we know he still had access to cloning facilities that were abandoned after the end of the Clone Wars. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that he could have planned for this - that man had a contingency for every situation.”

“He’s been planning his revenge,” Poe says. “We received another message from our spy this morning, just before we arrived back here. His followers have been building something in secret for years: a new command ship, a Dreadnought with planet-killing capabilities. It’s still incomplete, but it will be finished soon, and when it’s ready, the First Order will begin their final assault on all free worlds.”

“Then we have to destroy it before it’s ready to launch,” Rose says. “The First Order fleet is already strong enough; we can’t let them add another Dreadnought to their ranks.”

“No, we can’t,” Poe agrees. “But the problem is we don’t know where it is. Our spy told us Palpatine’s been hiding on a planet called Exegol, but even he has no idea where that is. It doesn’t appear in any records we’ve been able to search through.”

Exegol… the name strikes a chord of familiarity in Rey’s memory. “Hold on,” she says. “I think I might be able to help with that.”

“Anything you’ve got, let’s hear it.”

“I remember reading about Exegol in the Jedi texts. It was supposed to be the hidden kingdom of the Sith, a secret refuge for them that no one else ever discovered. Luke spent some time looking for it, but he never found it either. Apparently, the only knowledge of its location is contained in something called a Sith holocron.”

“Dangerous things, Sith holocrons,” Beaumont warns. “They contain a fragment of the spirit of their creator that serves as a gatekeeper and guide through the holocron’s knowledge base. They’re powerful artifacts, and evil ones.”

“Luke kept notes of his search,” Rey says. “He was looking for a holocron in the ruins of a Sith temple on Pasaana. But something happened - he didn’t say what - and he had to abandon the search.” She turns to Leia. “I know it’s risky, but we have to find Exegol so we can kill Palpatine and destroy his Dreadnought before it’s too late. We need to lead a mission to Pasaana to pick up where Luke left off and find the holocron he was searching for.”

“No,” says Leia. “It’s too dangerous. Sith temples are apex points of the Dark Side. We don’t have any idea what could be lurking there.

Poe and Finn share a look with Rey. She nods at them, and Poe exhales. “I don’t think we have a choice, General,” he says. “Rey is right. We have to find Exegol, and soon.”

“I don’t want to go without your blessing, but we will,” Rey says, imploring Leia to understand. “It’s what your brother would have done.”

After a moment, Leia sighs, seeming to age five years before their eyes. “That won’t be necessary,” she says. “Take the  _ Falcon _ to Pasaana and try to find the holocron. But  _ please, _ be careful. The Resistance can’t afford to lose any of you.”

Rey smiles at her and nods confidently. “Thank you, Leia,” she says, grabbing her master’s hand. “We won’t let you down.”


	4. The Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey, Finn, Poe, and Chewie depart from the Resistance for Pasaana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So despite not setting an update schedule because I'm notoriously bad with those, so far we've managed to keep a pretty consistent 3-4 days between updates. That may not last, especially with spring semester starting up shortly, but we're trying.  
> From Kat, regarding this chapter: _Let's go on an adventure, we're going on an adventure_  
>  She likes to meme lol  
> Anyways, enjoy!

####  IV

The Goodbye

They resolve to depart for Pasaana the following morning.

That night, Rey lies awake in her bed, staring up at the cave ceiling. Sleep eludes her. The thread that connects her to Kylo is pulled taut, like the bond itself is trying to force down their barriers. It’s taking far more concentration than usual to keep him shut out, and as a result, she can’t relax into sleep.

The effort of it is only part of the problem, though. 

She’d already noticed the connection was seemingly growing steadily stronger over time. On Ahch-To and in the throne room, his emotions had been just a faint whisper in the back corner of her mind. When the bond manifested and connected them, it would be briefly heightened while the connection was open, but the rest of the time she could barely tell he was there.

In the year following Crait, though, that began to change. His presence in her mind became more and more noticeable, until she was beginning to have difficulty distinguishing his emotions from her own. Occasionally even entire thoughts would pass between them. 

At that point, she knew she had to start blocking him out. She couldn’t risk him gleaning information about the Resistance from her mind.

It was like willingly cutting off her own arm, but she managed it. After that, the only times her defenses flagged were when the bond connected them or when Kylo was able to batter against her if his emotions were especially strong. She could still feel the hint of his emotions - she could never block him out completely - but that was something she could deal with. She had to.

Tonight, though… tonight she can barely keep him out. His roiling tension is a tidal wave of force, crashing against her mind. She’s holding him back, but only just, and some of the water is leaking through small cracks. It’s making her irritable and restless.

So she just lies there, unable to relax and sensing Kylo’s ever-present conflict as if it were her own, and she wants to plead with the Force,  _ Why me? _

She thinks the onslaught must have eventually abated enough for her to get a little bit of sleep, because the next thing she knows, Finn is shaking her shoulder and telling her it’s time to go.

Once she’s blinked away her disorientation and rubbed the bleariness from her eyes, she nods at him and he leaves her alone to dress. Of course, she hadn’t even bothered to disrobe last night before her pitiful attempts to sleep, so he needn’t have bothered, but she still appreciates the gesture.

She gets out of bed and pads over to her bag, rifling through the contents to be sure she has everything she needs. Her blaster Han had given her, the two parts of the broken Skywalker saber, a datapad from Leia, some cloth bandages and ration packets, and her canteen are all accounted for. 

For half a moment, she debates with herself about bringing the Jedi texts, but she quickly decides against it. They shouldn’t be gone long, but she doesn’t want to risk anything happening to the sacred books.

Her sparse packing finished, Rey slings her bag over her shoulder and heads out of her quarters to where the  _ Falcon  _ is waiting.

The sun has barely crested the horizon when she exits from the cave. Despite that, the humid jungle air coats her skin, making her wraps stick to her body. She wriggles uncomfortably.

Poe and Chewie are completing final preparations, having already said their short farewells to Leia and their other friends among the Resistance personnel. Finn is off to the side, engulfing Rose in a hug. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees them share a brief kiss, but Rey’s focus is on Leia.

The general is watching her with an expression full of warmth and love. She beckons Rey forward. Rey quickly walks to her and wraps her arms tightly around the shorter woman. The world around them fades, and there are no words needed, only the comfort of Leia’s embrace.

After a few moments, they finally pull apart. Leia studies Rey, her expression growing concerned as she notes the dark bags under her eyes and the dullness of her features. “Are you sure you’re alright for this mission?” Leia asks softly.

“Not really,” Rey says with a self-deprecating half-smile. “But it doesn’t matter. I have to do this.”

“You don’t, Rey. Others could - “

“No, I - they can’t. We both know it has to be me.”

Leia tilts her head, and Rey feels as if she’s looking right into her soul. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what’s bothering you?” Leia says perceptively.

Rey exhales. “I do,” she admits. “There’s a lot I need to tell you, actually.  _ So badly… _ but not now. I’ll explain everything when we get back, I - I promise.”

Leia nods. “I’ll hold you to that. Just be careful, Rey. I meant it when I said we can’t afford to lose you…  _ any  _ of you.”

“We’ll be careful,” Rey assures her. “We’ll come back with the holocron and we’ll find Exegol.”

“And if you see my son on this mission… don’t try to reason with him anymore, Rey. He made his choice, and he’s made it over and over again since; he’s too far gone now.”

“I…” She falters. “You know I can’t promise that. And with all due respect… I don’t think you really believe that, either.”

Leia’s knowing look is full of resignation. “No. No one’s ever really gone,” she whispers knowingly.

“No one’s ever really gone,” Rey echoes with a sad, resigned smile.

“Rey!” Finn calls from the  _ Falcon’ _ s ramp. “We’re ready to go!”

“I’ll be right there,” she tells him. He nods and heads inside the ship.

“You need to go,” Leia says. “But first…” She reaches behind her and unclips her lightsaber from the back of her belt. She presents it to Rey with a smile. “Here.”

Rey stares at her. She shakes her head. “I can’t accept this,” she says.

“Yes, you can,” Leia says, her tone brooking no argument. “You need a weapon, Rey. I know you think you aren’t ready, but I promise you, there is no one more worthy of carrying my saber than you.”

Rey’s eyes blur with tears as she takes the saber from Leia’s hands. “Thank you, Master,” she says hoarsely. Her hands tremble slightly as she hooks the saber onto her belt.

Leia smiles at her and hugs her one more time. “I‘m so proud of you, Rey,” Leia murmurs into her ear. “You’re going to be just fine.”

Rey finds herself too emotional to respond. When they separate from the hug, she simply nods in gratitude.

“Now, you need to get going,” Leia tells her. “Best not to keep a Wookiee waiting.” She winks.

Rey chokes out a laugh. “Thank you, Leia,” she says, one last time. She turns and walks away, climbing up the  _ Falcon’ _ s ramp. She stops at the top and turns back, holding up her hand to Leia. 

Leia returns the gesture. “We’ll talk when you return,” she says.

Rey nods. The ramp closes the last of the distance, obscuring Leia from her view. It seals itself with a hiss and a puff of steam, and a lingering air of finality. 

She takes a deep breath and goes to join the others in the cockpit.

“There you are,” Finn says. He takes in her slightly red-rimmed eyes and gives her a concerned look. “Everything alright?”

“I’m good,” Rey says. 

“Here,” says Poe, flicking a few more switches and then standing from the pilot’s chair. “Just keeping her warm for you.”

Rey quirks an eyebrow. “You’re letting me fly?”

“Yeah, well, Chewie here had some strong words for me while he made me stay up  _ all night  _ fixing the ship,” Poe grumbles. “I’m too tired to fly now anyway.”

Chewie roars with pride, which Rey interprets as,  _ You deserved it. _

“Will you be alright for the mission?” Rey asks.

Poe waves her off. “I’ll be fine. I’ll nap in hyperspace.”

“If you say so.” She carefully slides into the pilot’s chair -  _ Han’s chair  _ \- and runs her hands over the controls.

From her right, Chewie gives her a questioning roar.

“I’m okay,” Rey tells him. She’s not really sure if it’s a lie or not, but she keeps telling herself it doesn’t matter. Onward and upward. She takes a breath. “Let’s get this over with.” 

Chewie growls his assent, and Rey reaches out and pulls the lever back, propelling the  _ Falcon _ into lightspeed.

* * *

Poe makes good on his word. As soon as the ship jumps to lightspeed, he pats Rey and Finn on the shoulder and departs the cabin for the common room. He stretches out on the couch and is asleep within moments.

With the  _ Falcon’ _ s autopilot engaged, there’s no real need for Rey to stay at the helm, but she doesn’t especially feel like moving. It’s not like there’s anywhere else on the ship she’d really prefer to go, anyways, so she stays in her chair with Chewie and Finn for company.

Rey decides to break the silence. “Why didn’t Rose come with us?” she asks Finn.

He sighs. “She told me the same thing she’s said when I’ve tried to get her to go on other ops: ‘I’m not cut out for field work missions.’”

“Ahh,” says Rey. “That’s a shame. Maybe she thinks she isn’t cut out for it but she makes a great addition to any off-world team.”

“That’s what I keep telling her!” Finn says. “But I think… after her sister at D’Qar, then Canto Bight and the  _ Supremacy, _ then Fondor… I think she’s just had too many bad experiences in the field. She hesitates when she doesn’t need to.”

Rey nods in sympathy. “I don’t blame her. Besides, she’s a great asset to have around the base, even if she doesn’t like to leave it.”

“She’s the best mechanic we have,” Finn affirms. “She always tells me that’s where her skills are best utilized.”

“That’s a fair point.”

“Yeah, I’ve pretty much given up trying to fight her on it by now.” One of the wall panels sparks a little, and Finn ducks out of the way as Chewie pats on it a few times. “So… any idea what we’re heading into on Pasaana?”

Rey shakes her head. “No,” she says. “Although, now that you mention it…” She reaches down into her bag and fishes out her datapad. “...going in with a little bit of insight might be a good plan.” She keys in her code to access the datapad’s functions, brings up the holonet, and uses it to search for information about Pasaana.

“I didn’t even think about bringing mine,” Finn mutters.

Rey shrugs. “When you grow up on Jakku, you learn to always carry whatever you have with you wherever you go,” she says. “I still don’t have much in the way of possessions, so I guess I just never really broke the habit. Now, let’s see…” She begins scanning the entry on Pasaana.

“Anything useful in there?” Finn says. Chewie tilts his head curiously and roars softly.

“Quite a bit,” she answers. “It looks like Pasaana’s climate is mostly arid.” She wrinkles her nose. Frankly, she could go the rest of her life without having to set foot on another desert and it would be no skin off her back. She’s had enough miserable heat and sand to last several lifetimes. “Wonderful. The main settlement is on the planet’s southern hemisphere, right about…” She fiddles with the navigation system, adjusting the preprogrammed coordinates with the location of Pasaana’s capital. “There.”

“Is the settlement near where the temple is… or was?”

“I don’t know, the entry doesn’t mention anything about it. A site of Sith ruins probably isn’t something they want to popularize. But if we land near the main settlement and ask around, the locals should be able to tell us how to get there.”

“That seems like as good a place to start as any,” Finn says. “As long as they’re willing to tell us.”

“They’ll tell us,” Rey says. 

She wishes she could actually be so confident, but in truth, the same worry had occurred to her. If the locals are superstitious about the ruins or just simply unwilling to share the information, they could be in trouble.

The overarching problem is that this mission is Force-related, and because of that, Finn and Poe are expecting her to know what she’s doing. They’re trusting her to lead them. With those heavy expectations on her shoulders, there’s a voice of doubt that constantly whispers in the back of her mind, telling her that she doesn’t know enough - hasn’t trained enough - and she’s not ready. 

And what’s the most awful thing about it? 

She knows that despite Leia’s reassurances, it’s true. 

She never had enough time with Luke to truly understand the Force and the Jedi and the Sith, and though this past year training with the other Skywalker twin gave her some much-needed guidance, even that hasn’t been enough. Leia herself never completed her training from Luke, so neither she nor Rey really knew how to go about approaching Rey’s training. Leia’s done the best she can, but she wasn’t prepared for a situation like this.

It’s a familiar feeling for Rey. Some of her deepest fears have always revolved around her own inadequacy. 

As long as she can remember, Rey has never felt like she’s ever been  _ enough. _ She wasn’t enough for Unkar Plutt, despite the toil of her daily scavenging in the Graveyard. She wasn’t enough for Han Solo, who never would have died if he hadn’t had to rescue her when she was captured trying to run from her destiny. She wasn’t even enough for her own parents - her own flesh and blood - when they abandoned her to live or die at the mercy of the sands of Jakku at the ripe old age of five.

And so far, she hasn’t been enough for the Resistance - at least, not in the way they need her to be.

Only one moment in Rey’s life has she ever truly felt adequate, felt like she finally  _ belonged: _ on a faraway planet, on a tiny island amidst a great ocean, on a stormy night inside an ancient stone hut, on a stool in front of a blazing fire, soaking wet and frigid both inside and out; among the whispered comfort and sincerity of  _ You’re not alone _ and  _ Neither are you,  _ in a moment when the Force allowed her to touch the hand of her greatest enemy and know that, with the right push, he could become her greatest friend.

But even for that, she wasn’t enough. She had failed.

It tortures her every day, wondering what could have been if she had only taken his hand on the  _ Supremacy. _ Could she have gotten through to him over time? And what had he really meant when he said they could create a new order, together? Would it have been as bad as she feared, or was she simply too blinded by her fear to recognize the chance to change things, change the galaxy, for the better?

She turned him down to save her friends, but if she had gone with him, would she be in a better position to save the people she cares about - not just her friends and the Resistance, but Kylo himself, too - than she is now? Have her failures put them all squarely in the path of danger she’s too weak to protect them from?

As pointless as it is to dwell on, the cycle inevitably repeats. Each day - nearly each hour - she will ask herself all of those questions, then brush them aside, reminding herself that what happened in the past can’t be changed. Kylo made his choice, and she made hers. They both just live with those choices now. 

Even if she has still seen glimmers of Ben Solo in him in the year since the throne room, even when the string in her mind - in her soul - that binds them together screams at her constantly to let him in, she fears that it is hopeless. 

She knows that she will have to fight him, and soon, most likely, but she refuses to think about what that will mean… about what will have to happen. Call her a coward, but despite knowing in her heart that there’s only one way this can all end, she can’t even consider the possibility of having to end his life. The idea is as anathema to her as slaughtering Finn or Chewie; perhaps even more so.

All that in mind, Rey does what she does best. She pushes the thoughts aside and ignores them. She returns instead to briefing Finn and Chewie about Pasaana.

“There’s something else, too,” she tells them. “A celebration that only occurs once every 42 years, and it’s happening right now. The Pasaanans call it the Festival of the Ancestors.”

Chewie growls, asking her what the celebration entails.

“Lots of dancing, for one thing,” she says. She looks back down at the datapad’s readout. “There’s always a large dance going on in the center that anyone can join or leave as they choose. But the main attraction of the Festival is to make bead necklaces and other crafts and display them at different stalls.”

“Oh, that’s neat,” Finn remarks. “Do they sell them?”

“Hmm… no, I don’t think so. The designs of the necklaces and the beads that are braided onto them are supposed to represent something unique to the family and heritage of the one who made them. In between dancing, people wander around the different stalls and learn about the others’ ancestors; sometimes they even exchange one of their necklaces with one from another family they wish to form a bond with.”

“Wow,” says Finn. “That is… actually really interesting.”

“It is,” Rey agrees quietly. She tries to imagine what it would be like to know the rich history of those you’ve descended from and be able to attend a gathering that solely revolves around celebrating that history. Not for the first time in her life, she has to fight to smother the sting of envy. “Until I met you, I’d never left Jakku,” she says to Finn. “I didn’t even know all these different cultures existed. It’s such a joy to learn about them now.”

Chewie lets out a mournful roar.

“I know,” Rey says solemnly. She lays a hand on his furry shoulder. “Me too. Maybe one day when this war is over, you can show me what Kashyyyk is like and teach me all about your people.”

He sniffs at her and nods, responding in Shyriiwook.

Rey smiles. “I’d like that very much.”

They arrive at Pasaana a few hours later. Rey disengages the autopilot after it brings them out of hyperspace and takes over the controls, aiming the  _ Falcon _ for the region of the planet where the main settlement is located. Their entry through the atmosphere is bumpy, but routinely simple. Soon enough, Rey is carefully setting the ship down behind an outcropping of rock a short walk away from the settlement.

Rey and Chewie leave the cockpit together, heading to the common room. They find Poe awake once again, having been roused by Finn, the both of them gearing up for their expedition onto the planet. Once the whole team is ready, they gather at the top of the closed ramp.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Rey says. “We have to find the temple, but it could be anywhere. I say we split up, ask around with the locals at the festival, see what they can tell us. We can cover more ground that way.”

Finn nods. “How will we know when to meet back up?”

“I’ll find you,” Rey says.

“How will you do that?” Poe asks skeptically.

Finn bumps his shoulder. “The Force,” he whispers seriously.

“Oh, right, of course… the Force.”

Rey rolls her eyes. “Just trust me; I’ll find you.”

“I trust you, Rey,” Finn says with a look at Poe, who holds his arms up in surrender. “We’ll split up and see what we can find.”

Chewie growls affirmatively.

“Great,” Rey says. “Then let’s go.” She’s about to hit the button to open the ramp when Finn coughs pointedly. She turns to him. “Yes?”

He not-so-subtly nudges Poe. 

The pilot rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat awkwardly. “I, uh,” he begins, “I’m sorry for the way I acted at the base… I was afraid, and I was frustrated, and I lashed out at you for it, so… yeah. Sorry.”

Rey sighs. “It’s alright, Poe,” she says. “I know we don’t always see eye-to-eye, but I don’t blame you. I’m frustrated, too; I just don’t know -” She cuts herself off before her insecurities come spilling out, and sighs again. “Apology accepted, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, too.”

Poe shrugs. “It’s no big deal. We good?”

“We’re good.”

Finn smiles at them in satisfaction.

Rey hits the ramp control, and the four Resistance heroes step out of the  _ Falcon _ and out into the copper dunes of Pasaana.

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will come as we finish them, but given that we're pretty fired up about this, hopefully there won't be too much time between them.


End file.
